130 years ago today - Sunday, Apr 22, 1888

A Blessing by Lorenzo H. Hatch, Patriarch upon the head of [apostle] John Henry Smith ...

... be of good cheer for you have been preserved as a chosen instrument and as a promised child to raise up the name of thy father and mother. Thy father obtained promises concerning thee. Thou has been impelled to go forward by the inspiration of the Lord thy God. As Jeremiah was ordained to be a prophet unto the nations so it has fallen to thy lot to in like manner lift up thy voice both long and loud and to spare not. It is thy calling to administer in behalf of millions as a great Apostle and to stand coequal with the chiefest of thy brethren. ... All your gifts have been foreordained and for this reason you have been shielded from the hand of the destroyer. The plans of the enemy have been frustrated and your life has been spared, thus saith the Lord your God, that you might continue to travel from nation to nation. They that you bless shall be blessed, and they that defy the Lord by your word they shall be cursed, and their generations shall cease from among men. Behold I say unto you, tongue cannot discribe nor pen record the glories that await you for your calling and election shall be made sure. The Angels of God are on your right and left, they have journeyed with you, by land and by sea. ... Though the heavens shall pass away, these words shall not fail. I seal all these blessings with your former blessings by the authority of my patriarchal Calling and in the name of your Redeemer, even so, Amen.